Sandgate Community Garden Team Diary Entry for 7th January: A definite sense of déjà vu.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
There is definitely a sense of déjà vu looking back at the newsletter for this time last year. Reassuringly we are doing the very same tasks within the garden, but it seems that the weather patterns are also the same. High winds/storms, and oodles of rain. The rainfall for December was 87.2 mm; last December it was 88.6 mm. The month with the highest rainfall in 2023 was November with 183.6 mm, and in 2022 it was November again but with 194.8 mm.
Just before Christmas, we pulled up our parsnip harvest which if we are honest, we never expected to see. We sowed the parsnip seeds just after the announcement that Enbrook Park was to be sold and decided only to sow a few because our future was uncertain and December seemed very far away at the time. The thing about parsnips is that you never are sure what the crop is like until you get them up and out of the ground – they could be full of canker or just underwhelming. Fortunately we were pleasantly surprised that although the harvest was small, there were a few whoppers as you can see in the picture below.
Not much was happening in the garden over the Christmas festivities, and visits were made by a valiant few to check that netting and fleece was in place and all was generally as it should be. It seems that there has been and are many instances of a nasty cough/cold bug going around the population, definitely not covid this time, and for some of us, something we have not had experience of for some years, or since the start of the pandemic.
Happily there was some unexpected sunshine during our Saturday morning session which was most welcome and it was good to see some flowering primroses and the tips of the emerging daffodils appearing all over the garden and first sign that spring is actually on its way. Unfortunately for us, the toolbox lock refused to budge which meant we had no access to tools but were quite happy chatting and generally taking stock of what was happening within the plot. One thing that did not escape our notice was several potato plants popping up in the beds where they were planted last year. It seems that no matter how hard you search for them on harvesting, they still get missed and rise up to haunt you the following year and always where you do not want them – just typical!
What’s next?
- Sort out the compost area
- Cut some claytonia
- Cut back the goji berries
- Prune some of the fruit trees
This weeks update from the Sandgate Community Garden Diary.